From parade.com
Key Points
- Many people with type 2 diabetes are undiagnosed, increasing risk of serious complications.
- Risk rises with age, obesity, poor diet, inactivity and hormonal changes like menopause.
- Specific habits can reduce risk at any age.
Type 2 diabetes has serious health implications (including increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease), yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27.6 million of the 40.1 million people in the U.S. with diabetes don’t know they have it.
Undiagnosed diabetes is dangerous because when chronically high blood sugar is left untreated, it can damage blood vessels and nerves throughout the body. This can cause irreversible harm to the body’s organs before symptoms even start. This is why it’s crucial to know your diabetes risk and know how to manage your diabetes if you do have it.
“Most patients [with type 2 diabetes] are asymptomatic because of its slow onset,” says Dr. Kevin Pantalone, DO, an endocrinologist and the director of diabetes initiatives at Cleveland Clinic. Related to this, Dr. Pantalone explains that many people have type 2 diabetes for a full five years before it’s diagnosed. “This is why screening for diabetes is so important.”
Dr. Pantalone explains that diabetes is diagnosed through blood tests that measure blood sugar levels. Preventing and managing your risk for type 2 diabetes looks slightly different, depending on your age. Here’s how you can manage your risk depending on how old you are.
How To Lower Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Your 20s and 30s
The number of people under 40 being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is on the rise. Dr. Pantalone says that while there are genetic and environmental factors that influence the risk of type two diabetes, one primary reason for this is due to obesity. “Obesity increases insulin resistance, which makes it harder for the individual to control their blood sugar,” he notes.
This means, he says, that habits that cause obesity (including improper diet and lack of exercise) directly contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes. With this in mind, if you are in your 20s or 30s and want to lower the risk of diabetes, the most powerful way to do this is by having healthy diet and exercise habits in place.
“While one can’t change their genetics and may not be able to change their environment, one can try to lead a healthy lifestyle largely through maintaining physical activity levels and following general nutrition recommendations,” Dr. Pantalone explains.
How Type 2 Diabetes Risk Changes in Your 40s
Dr. Pantalone says that type 2 diabetes risk increases drastically after age 45 and continues to increase with age. That makes getting screened for diabetes in your 40s especially important.
If you are a woman and developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy (which Dr. Pantalone explains is due to changes in hormones and weight), it’s important to know that you have a higher likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. With this in mind, it’s crucial to be screened for type 2 diabetes in your 40s if you had gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
The same diet and lifestyle habits that lower the risk of diabetes in your 20s and 30s also apply to your 40s. Especially because metabolism can slow after 40, making it easier to gain weight, maintaining a nutrient-rich diet and exercising regularly becomes especially important.
How Type 2 Diabetes Risk Changes After 50
For women, menopause can impact the risk of type 2 diabetes. “Menopause is associated with many hormonal changes, especially lower levels of oestrogen, and women will report weight gain during menopause. Weight gain is often accompanied with a change in body composition, specifically a reduction in muscle mass and an increase in fat mass, which can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Pantalone says.
What can you do to mitigate this risk? Again, it comes back to having healthy habits in place, but in addition to having a nutrient-rich diet and exercising regularly, Dr. Pantalone says it becomes increasingly important to consistently get enough sleep and have healthy stress management habits in place. He explains that this is because lack of sleep and prolonged stress can both influence weight gain, which in turn increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Pantalone reiterates that the risk of type 2 diabetes increases with age; the older you are, the more important it is to be screened for diabetes. That said, he emphasizes that maintaining healthy habits plays a major role in reducing this risk and is something people of all ages should keep in mind. “A person in their 20s with severe obesity could have a higher risk than a 55-year-old person of normal weight; there are lots of factors that influence one’s risk across the age spectrum,” he says.
With that in mind, it’s never too early—or too late—to start implementing healthy habits. They’ll lower your risk of type 2 diabetes both now and in the decades to come.
https://parade.com/health/diabetes-risk-by-decade-according-to-cleveland-clinic-endocrinologist
